


How Many More Times

by theychosefamily67



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-08 21:37:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4321656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theychosefamily67/pseuds/theychosefamily67
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Groundskeeper/Hotel Maintenance Worker</p><p>I hope no one minds but I used a name instead of (Y/N).  It just didn’t flow to me as well using (Y/N).</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Many More Times

I wiped the sweat off my forehead and surveyed my work. The flowers were coming in nicely this year. Now all I had to do was prune the hedges and I was done for the day. I stood and cracked my back, wiping the dirt off my knees, when I heard it. An engine that was so loud and throaty it could probably wake the dead. I turned to see a black (66,67?) Chevy Impala turning into the hotel parking lot. I whistled in appreciation, she was black and shiny and sounded beautiful. It pulled into a parking spot and out jumped two of the most handsome men I had seen around here in a while. They went into the office to check in and I picked up my planting supplies and walked over to the car. Wow, she was a beauty. I peeked inside, the interior was in immaculate shape. I smiled, there was a little army man wedged into the ashtray in the backseat.

“Hi,” a deep voice said and I jumped back, my cheeks turning bright red.

“I’m sorry, I just had to get a look, she’s beautiful,” I stammered, staring into gorgeous green eyes and a chiseled jaw that could probably cut marble.

“That’s alright, thanks for saying so. I rebuilt her myself,” he smiled and offered his hand, “name’s Dean.”

I juggled the supplies in my arms, shook his hand, and then realized my hands were filthy.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” I pulled a rag out of my back pocket and offered it to him but he just laughed.

“That’s all right, I’ll live. I didn’t catch your name?” he asked, wiping his hands on his jeans.

“Oh, it’s Zoe.”

“Nice to meet you Zoe, this is my brother Sam,” he gestured towards the giant man that had just walked out of the office.

“What?” Sam was confused.

“Sam, this is Zoe and she loves Baby,” he chuckled, looking like a proud father.

Sam smiled and said, “Oh! Well, that’s not hard to do, she’s beautiful. Hi Zoe.”

“Hello,” I felt like all the wind had been knocked out of me. I mean, Dean was handsome as hell, but Sam, holy shit. What factory had spit him out? He was tall, muscular, hazel eyes, dimples for days, and a smile that could light up a cloudy day.

I realized I was staring so I said, “Well, I’ll let you two get to your room. Enjoy your stay!” I walked away quickly to the maintenance shed. Get ahold of yourself woman! I admonished myself as I grabbed the pruning shears. I was clipping the bushes when Sam and Dean came out of their room and drove off. I stared after them, wondering where they were heading.

After my shift I went to the hotel bar. It had been a hot day and I needed a drink.

“Beer me please Greg,” I waved at the bartender.

“Rough day Zoe?” he asked, sliding me a cold one.

“Just hot, and dirty, and…frustrating,” I sighed, thinking about the brothers. And wouldn’t you know it, they walked in the door. Dean saw me at the bar and nudged Sam and they headed my way.

“Hey Zoe, whatcha drinkin’?” Dean settled onto the stool next to me and Sam sat beside him.

“Nothin’ special, just a beer,” I smiled.

“Well, we gotta fix that. Three whiskey doubles, neat please,” he said to Greg.

“Whoa, are you trying to get me drunk?” I laughed.

“Nope, just happy,” Dean said with a shit-eating grin.

A few hours later we had moved to a table and were eating dinner. Sam and Dean were telling me all about their childhood. Growing up on the road, motel room after motel room. They had lost their mother when Sam was just a baby to a house fire, so after that their dad took odd jobs in different cities to make ends meet. Then they had lost their dad to a tragic accident. They seemed like they were so close and I knew why, they were all they had left, the rest of their family was gone. You would think they would be sad and depressed, but they seemed so happy. Joking and teasing each other, it was so great to watch. I was an only child so I never experienced a bond like they had. 

While we were eating I got quite a shock when Sam reached for a slice of pizza and I saw his knuckles. They were all bloody and scratched up.

“Oh my God, Sam, are you okay?” I grabbed his hand, pulling it closer.

“Um, yeah…just got in a fight with some smartasses,” he withdrew his hand quickly and shot Dean a look.

“Did you call the cops?” I asked.

“Nah, it wasn’t worth it. They learned their lesson,” Dean smirked.

“O…kay,” I let it go. Clearly they didn’t want to tell me what was going on.

We hung out for a few more hours until they stumbled off to their room. I was pleasantly buzzed so I decided to spend the night at the hotel instead of driving home.

I woke up the next morning and groaned. My mouth tasted like an ashtray and my head was throbbing. I had to repaint the sign out front today and it was already 80 degrees at 5am. This day was going to SUCK. Maybe I would get to see Sam and Dean again though. I smiled, got dressed, and grabbed my paint supplies, almost running to the front.

I set up my stuff and looked towards their room. Their car was already gone. Damn. Had they left already or were they coming back? 

I finished the sign around noon and went to eat lunch in the office where there was air conditioning.

“Whew it’s hot,” I wiped my forehead and flopped down on a couch in the lobby.

“You poor dear,” Janice, the owner of the hotel, brought me a Coke and a lunch bag from the kitchen.

“Thank you Janice, you are an angel,” I popped the top and drank almost half the bottle in one gulp. “So, did the two guys in 104 check out already?” I asked casually.

“You mean the tall drink of water and his model brother?” she smiled, punching me in the shoulder. Guess I wasn’t casual enough. “I heard about you hanging out with them in the bar all night.”

“It wasn’t all night…just until 1am,” I mumbled, embarrassed.

She chuckled, “Hey, I can’t blame you. If was 50 years younger…” she trailed off, daydreaming of younger days.

“Sooo…did they check out?” I snapped her back to reality.

“Oh! Yes dear, they left about 3am,” she patted my shoulder and went back behind the front desk.

“Oh, okay, thanks Janice,” I finished my lunch and went to clean up all my paint supplies, disappointed I had missed them.

They came back though. About once a month they would stop in on their way to another job. They would always wave to me as they pulled in and we would get a drink and eat dinner together that night. I started to wonder what it was they really did for a living. They showed up for dinner several times with black eyes and bruises, but I didn’t pry. I figured when the time was right they would tell me.

It was about a year later, and I was skimming the pool when I heard it. That beautiful rumble. I dropped the skimmer beside the pool and ran to the fence surrounding it, leaning as far over as I could to see if it was them. It was the Impala, I would recognize that car anywhere. It pulled into a parking spot as I ran around to the hole in the fence. I was running to greet them when I realized only Sam had gotten out of the car. I stopped short. Oh no. What had happened? Why wasn’t Dean with him? Sam walked into the office to check in and I stood there, paralyzed. Should I go speak to him? Should I leave him alone? I wasn’t sure what to do.

Just then he came out of the office and saw me standing there. He gave me a small wave and I waved back and walked over, my hands in my pockets.

“Hey Sam.”

“Hey Zoe,” he looked so tired. There were bags under his eyes and he was skinny, like he hadn’t eaten in a week.

“How are you?” I asked cautiously.

“Pretty good,” he fiddled with the keys in his hand.

“Well, I’ll let you get to your room, you look like you need some rest,” I nodded at him and turned around to get back to work.

“Hey–um–Zoe, wanna get some dinner later and catch up?” Sam called out as I walked away.

I turned back around, “Yeah, I would like that. I get off at 5, so, around 8? That’ll give me time to clean up. I’ll meet you back here?”

“Sounds good,” he smiled and got back in the car.

I floated through the rest of the day, super excited about going to dinner with him, but at the same time still confused as to where Dean was.

I got to the hotel a little before 8:00 and sat in the lobby to wait on Sam. Janice and I made small talk while I waited on him. He got there shortly after 8 and Janice nudged me in the side when he walked in, waggling her eyebrows at me.

“Shut up,” I whispered, my cheeks burning. She knew about my feelings for Sam, I had whined to her about him many times after he left, but I didn’t have the courage to act on them.

“Hey, you ready?” Sam smiled at me.

“Yep! Let’s go, see you later Janice.”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she yelled after me.

“Oh my God,” I wished I could disappear into the floor I was so embarrassed. Sam just chuckled and opened the passenger door to the Impala. Oh my god, I was sitting in the Impala! It was the first time we had left the hotel for dinner, we usually just went to the hotel bar. I rubbed my hands on the dash reverently as Sam sat down in the driver’s seat.

“Are you okay? I know it’s overwhelming” he smiled.

“She’s so beautiful,” I whispered.

He gave me a half-smile and started the car. I could tell something was off, he just wasn’t himself. As we drove to the restaurant, Led Zeppelin playing low on the radio, I cleared my throat and said, “So, how you are really Sam?”

He glanced over at me and said, “I’m fine.”

“Where’s Dean?” I asked softly.

I swear he stopped breathing and then suddenly he was pulling the car over to the side of the road. He turned the car off, staring straight ahead for a moment before he turned and faced me. He took both hands in mine and said, “Zoe, Dean’s–gone.”

“Gone as in–” I couldn’t even complete that horrible sentence. Sam nodded and I shook my head no. “No–no Sam. That can’t be–how?”

“It’s a long story, and I would have to tell you a lot of crazy stuff to explain it, but he’s–gone,” Sam’s eyes were wet with tears. Suddenly I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I pulled my hands out of Sam’s and jumped out of the car. I walked towards the woods on the side of the road, not even sure where I was going. This can’t be happening. It can’t be real.

“Zoe?” Sam jumped out of the driver’s side and ran around the car, following me. “Zoe, where are you going?” He caught up to me and grabbed my shoulder, stopping me.

I spun around to face him, “Sam, this–this can’t be true. Please tell me it’s not true.”

“I’m sorry, it’s true,” he pulled me into his arms and I sobbed while he rubbed my back. “Let’s go back to the car and I’ll tell you everything.”

Sam told me he and Dean hunted monsters. That all those things that go bump in the night were actually real. He told me how he had been murdered by a man following a demon’s orders and Dean had made a deal with a demon to save his life. Sam was going to save him but he couldn’t, so now Dean was in hell. 

“Because of me,” Sam said, his head hanging down. I pulled him to me, hugging him tight.

“Oh Sam, I’m so sorry,” I said.

He rested his chin on top of my head for a little while and then pulled back and said, “You’re taking this mighty well, most people freak out.”

“Well, see, here’s the thing, I kinda already knew,” I admitted sheepishly.

“What? How?”

“When you guys were out one time I had to do a routine check on the A/C units in all the rooms. So I went to your room and found all your stuff. I read some of your dad’s journal.”

“Damn, that was real sloppy of us,” he shook his head. “We don’t usually leave that stuff out.”

“Yeah, I was pretty freaked out at first. But, then it all made sense. The life on the road, the bumps and bruises you guys always came back with. But, I wasn’t going to say anything until you were ready to tell me, so I kept it to myself.”

“I appreciate that,” Sam said, smiling.

“So, what are you going to do now?”

He shrugged, “Keep hunting, I guess. There’s still a lot of people who need saving. I can’t just let them die.”

“Will it be safe for you to do that by yourself?”

“Dean taught me a lot, him and dad both did, I think I’ll be alright.”

“Will you still stop by and see me once a month?” I asked, looking down at my hands.

“Promise,” he put his hand on my chin, pulling my head up. He scooted closer to me and kissed me, softly, and then pulled away. “Is this okay?” he asked.

“Yes Sam, very okay,” I answered, staring into his eyes.

He kissed me again, and put both hands around my waist, pulling me flush against him. I ran my hands up his neck and into his hair. Oh my god, I finally get to feel that glorious hair in my fingertips. He pulled back and said, “Are you hungry?”

“No, can we please go back to the hotel now?”

The next morning he kissed me goodbye, promised he would be back in a month, and I stood in the window, wearing one of his shirts, watching the Impala pull out of the parking lot. I still have that shirt and sometimes I pull it out of my closet, hold it to my nose, and try and remember what he smelled like. He never did come back. I hope he’s okay, wherever he is.


End file.
